Red Hawks Experience National-Level Competition in California

After Day 1 at the USA Cycling Collegiate Mountain Bike Nationals, Ripon was 10th (of 22) in the overall team omnium scoring for Div. 2 schools. This after a rough day for Tiffany and Eric.

Tiffany was the final woman across the finish line in the 3-lap, 22.5-mile cross country race Friday morning. She crossed the line in 3:30:46.40, battling the 800 feet of vertical on each lap and significant pain in her knee. Of the 19 D2 women who started the race in the village at the Northstar at Tahoe Resort in Truckee, Calif., Tiffany was 15th. Four women did not finish the race.

Similarly, Eric was the last man to cross the line for the D2 men. Eric finished the 4-lap, 30-mile race in a time of 3:07:03.65 to place him 28th among the 38 starters. Ten men did not finish the brutal race up and down the ski mountain at Northstar.

Regardless of the results, I was extremely happy with the effort and determination both riders showed today. In an odd move, the race officials pulled riders from the cross-country race if they did not complete the second (for women) and third (for men) laps in a specific time.

Had Tiffany come through the finish three minutes later after two laps, she would have been pulled. Instead she went out for her third lap. The effort almost proved too much for her though. But it wasn't. She completed the race ... a national race.

Eric was the last D2 man left to head out on the fourth lap in the men's race. Still he had a respectable race. He finished ahead of two D1 riders. And like Tiff, he completed a national-level race.

For both riders, it was tremendous experience. This is Ripon's first trip to nationals, but it will not be the last. Tiff and Eric will most likely be back next year, and now we all know what it takes to compete at this level.